I'm going to start hosting a regular Reiki Share. It's a chance for Reiki Practitioners to get together and give each other Reiki. Today was going to be my second attempt, but nobody RSVP'd positively. I have now set up a Yahoo Group for those interested in participating, and it will allow my local Reiki Folk to talk amongst themselves between shares too. Sign up below if you are a) trained in Reiki and in the Minneapolis area and b) interested in participating in my Reiki Shares in the future.

The husband is cooking me steak tonight, and he already has the wine. :) I love the husband, I love Fridays!

I just have to put this out there for all of you wannabes. After five long years of working hard, going through my retirement savings, and working part-time while still trying to make a career as a fantasy artist, I have to list all the things that make having a day job great. Because I now have a day job.

1. Nobody expects me to work for free. As a fantasy artist I constantly would get requests to draw people's character. I would also quote a price for book covers or commissions never to hear from people again, OR I would spend time in lengthy discussions about what I can do and for how much. At my day job I get paid for the time I'm working. Period.
2. I have a  Climate controlled environment. We don't have central air at home, so in the summer it gets pretty sweaty when I'm trying to cut mats or print things out, pack and haul stuff out to the van (which died in Iowa on my 40th birthday weekend), which also didn't have air conditioning. Ever drive 8 hours in a forest green van to Iowa in 90 degree weather? Well I have! Or how about sitting outside under an easy up tent in the pouring rain trying to sell prints on paper? Yup done that too. Froze my but off in 50 degree weather while dressed up in a bodice as well.
   
3. Office Supplies at my fingertips...and I don't even have to pay for them! That's right, I get pens, pencils, highlighters, sticky notes, and paperclips galore without having to make a list, get into my car, drive to an office supply store, and buy the stuff.
   
4. A cool flat screen monitor to work on...and I didn't have to pay for it. Plus a comfy chair, two sets of office drawers, overhead storage with task lighting under it, and a nice neat cubicle to call my own. A cubicle is a beautiful thing. It's like having my own office, only more friendly because I can see my neighbors. That's right, I said it.
5. Holidays off with pay. You only miss some things when they're gone, and having holidays off and getting paid for them anyway is a marvelous thing. It's been five years since I've had one of those, and the next one is coming up in May. Woohooo! Time off and free money! Which leads us to:
6. Vacation Time. Even before, when I had a day job I spent all my vacation time going to conventions to sell my stuff. Well no more! At this particular job I don't get vacation for a year, but then I will get 10 days to use however I may and you can bet it won't be for my part-time art business. No I want to run around the state, take pictures for my self, enjoy the scenery, and spend time with my hubby. I might even stay home and do some gardening, who knows?
   
7. An Angst Free Lifestyle. Because I been there and done that, I won't be longing for the illusion of the carefree artist lifestyle. Because I learned that it is nothing but cares and woes, and fear and worry. Knowing that a paycheck is on it's way to be electronically nestled into my bank account every two weeks is a Very Good Thing.
8. TGIF I get to join in the collective joy of having weekends OFF!
   
9. Career guidance and general help. That's right, in the corporate environment, you get to plan a career path if you want it with the help of your supervisor and management staff. Not only that, you have coworkers who know how to do your job and you can ask them questions when you get stuck on something. Now that's really cool.
10. 401k Because I spent mine again and again....and again. It's not really just the past five years that I have been planning on an art career, but the fifteen before that too. Never spend your retirement money, just get the job, you might find you like it.
    
11. I can wear fashionable shoes and clothing.  Because I'm sitting all the time, my feet won't get sore. It's even a boost to my career to do so. I'm a girly girl and I like this part of the job very much indeed.
12. I can make sales at my CafePress store while I work! It's true, I had sales this week, my first week on the job, and because CafePress does all the dirty work, I can just sit back at my cubicle knowing that my art is out there working for me.
13. I get to keep my house. Because we were behind on the mortgage, we were on the brink of foreclosure. We neatly sidestepped that with a call to the bank and a payment arrangement over the next 10 months to get caught up, all because I am now Gainfully Employed.

Well, I got the phone call yesterday with the job offer, I start Monday. :) I was so excited that I had trouble sleeping last night. There have been a lot of things that were put on hold because I didn't know what my schedule was going to be. Now I can start planning for the near future again! Whew, it's a real load off my mind. It will be nice to be earning above the poverty level for the first time in five years. 

For everything there is a season, and I have some time to kill while Windows is downloading the latest update for which I'm long overdue. The job interview result is not in yet, because they need two actual work references, and working for your sister doesn't count as one. So I'm doing some serious digging trying to get the company hooked up with my former bosses. One works nights and is asleep when most people are at work, but I emailed her and got a new phone number they can try, if they leave a message she'll try to call them back. The other company went out of business, so I emailed my boss there to see if there's a way they can talk to her. I'm going to try calling her tonight as well.

The advertising company I worked at doesn't really remember me very well, so they couldn't really tell them much other than yes, I worked there once upon a time. My supervisor had left the company just before I did. I was the last web designer that they ever had on staff and that was five years ago now. Then I thought to give them the info of my friend who I rented the booth from at Ren Fest. I checked her phone # AFTER I rattled it off. I got a weird error message on that one. If I have to go back 10 years to when I worked at Artworks I will, I'm pretty sure Debbie would remember me, she left me in charge of the store while she was out on Maternity leave after all.

Such is my life at the present. I'll be posting more here as soon as I know something.

I still haven't heard about the job and I can't sleep because I woke up at 12:30 in the morning to the stench of my roommate cooking her late night dinner. The house is saturated with the smell of onions and fried mystery meat. I've never been a big fan of room fresheners, but I'm going to have to invest in some because I'm sick of the stink when I'm trying to sleep. David wears his CPAP mask, so everything he gets is filtered. I tried lighting incense and that helped while it was burning, but  the stench has crept back everywhere.

It wasn't always like this, she used to come home at a reasonable hour, and cook dinner at a reasonable hour, but since I'm not going to be her drinking buddy, she stays out until we've gone to bed and then comes home and stinks the whole house up when I'm trying to sleep. It's disgusting, but she's moving out in April so this is just temporary. Sorry to rant, but I'm exhausted from Marscon and I can't sleep with this horrid smell everywhere in the damn house. Yuck.

Waiting is such a hard thing sometimes. I usually don't mind waiting in line, you can see where the end is and it gives me a chance to let my mind mellow out. But waiting for important news is stressful. I applied for a job on Monday of last week, took the drug test on Tuesday, and now it's Tuesday again and I still haven't heard from the company. So I called my contact person this morning, and she said she was still waiting for the test results. Now, since I don't do drugs and I'm not even on any medications of any kind right now, there should be no problem. Everyone I have spoken to tells me that if they're spending the money to do the test, then they want to hire me. But the not knowing is such a hard thing. My husband and I need me to work full-time so we can manage all the bills, I need things like health insurance, and I need more stability in my life. My art career will continue as a sideline, and that's just the way it's going have to be. I wasn't one of those lucky few who were able to make it work well enough to pay the bills.

It is the night, in the dark half of the year and I find myself longing for spring, sunshine, flowers, and gardening. I do what I can to update my studio, to make it feel warm and welcoming to me as I need a safe place for creating my work. It has been mostly taken over by Reiki over the past few months, but I'm getting it organized to a state where Art can happen once again. Recently I got an email asking me if I would ever continue my Dragon series, and I hope to when the time is right. But the time is not right at the moment. When I paint, I need to work on something that I'm excited about, and I have other ideas that won't let me go at the moment.

I devoured some books last month, and I plan on devouring a few more this month. It makes me happy to do so, and I get excited about fantasy again after feeling abused and burned out by the whole genre. I had the flu a few days ago, and it's left me feeling a little tired today still. But I like the way the studio is shaping up, so it's been worth the extra worth. My darling David helped me hang a picture and a tapestry as a room divider this morning. It's good to have help every once in a while. If only I could get him to do the litter box more than once a month. 

OK, I have to say that I'm totally fascinated by all these Ghost Hunting shows that are on the air now. I just watched the latest episode of Paranormal State, and I really enjoyed it. When I was a young girl, I was easily frightened, and as a teen I had some memorable nights trying to get to sleep. I'd attracted something that enjoyed my fear, so I battled it with Bible verses and night lights until I got over it. Now, looking back I know it was because of my growing Psychic ability blaring out there for all the unseen world to see, but at the time it disrupted my life for quite a while. Over the past fifteen years I've learned a lot about Psychic Self-Defense and cleansing spaces with sage, banishing rituals and the whole shebang. I decided I didn't want to be a couch potato any longer, so this Saturday I'm meeting with a group which is forming a Paranormal Research Society.